


auston

by darkangel0410



Series: godlings [2]
Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Greek Mythology, Gen, M/M, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-17
Updated: 2019-09-01
Packaged: 2020-06-30 10:24:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,964
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19851199
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/darkangel0410/pseuds/darkangel0410
Summary: The first time Auston sees Mitch is when they win gold against Canada at the U18s; they’re lined up on the ice facing each other, waiting for their respective anthems to finish and Auston sees him standing between McDavid and Strome. He’s cute enough, but Auston isn’t all heart-eyes from the moment he sees him, the way Jack is about McDavid.He’s just another player to Auston. Until he’s not.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Here it is, the second part of the godlings series, I hope you guys all enjoy it!

The problem with prophecies, in Auston’s experience, is that once the words were said nothing could change them -no matter how sorry you might be after the fact.

_Dreams_ were a trainwreck in their own ways, but prophecies. Auston was intimately acquainted with them in a way he could never be with _dreams_.

Prophecies could get fucked as far as Auston was concerned.

* 

Jack’s told him before when they were drunk over the summer, all of them crammed into Noah’s living room, how the water always talks to him, a part of himself that’s always there.

Sunlight’s not like that for Auston, it’s more of a constant hum that he can feel in his body, something that’s louder and _brighter_ when he’s outside. It makes him feel lit up from the inside out, a simmering warmth that’s always just below his skin. He’s happier in the sun, stronger, too, the sun making him feel invincible most of the time.

He’s seen Jack angry before, on a beach with the water attacking the sand, destroying everything that it touches because it can’t contain the way it reacts to a son of Poseidon’s emotions.

Auston’s anger always explodes out of him, more like a volcano than anything else, words spewing out of his mouth and hurting whoever makes him mad. He’s learned, the hard way, to keep his temper in check, to make sure he doesn’t let his frustration bubble over into something destructive.

There are always consequences for your words and actions, especially when you’re a son of Apollo.

*

He’s five the first time he loses his temper and yells at the dog after she chews on his new stick; he doesn’t understand anything yet, but it doesn’t stop her from getting hit by a car when she gets out of the backyard and runs into the street.

Auston doesn’t see the concerned looks his parents give each other or hear their whispered conversation over breakfast the next morning.

His other dad comes to visit him a few days later and He stays for longer than He usually does, having the first of many conversations with Auston about what it means for Apollo to be your father. 

It’s not all bad, especially after he meets Jack and everyone else, his cousins help him feel more normal, they’re like him, even if they aren’t the same, but right then, knowing that he was the one responsible for Bella’s death, it feels like the end of the world.

*

The first time Auston sees Mitch is when they win gold against Canada at the U18s; they’re lined up on the ice facing each other, waiting for their respective anthems to finish and Auston sees him standing between McDavid and Strome. He’s cute enough, but Auston isn’t all heart-eyes from the moment he sees him, the way Jack is about McDavid. 

He’s just another player to Auston. Until he’s not.

*

Mitch greets him like they’ve been friends for years, instead of just two people who peripherally know each other because of hockey. He thinks some of it’s because Jack’s finally got his head out of his ass about Davo, but really it’s mostly just the way Mitch is.

“Hey, dude, I saw you play at the World Cup,” Mitch tells him as he goes in for a full hug; he hangs on for a few seconds before he pulls back with a wide grin and adds, “You were pretty good, but Mo won the day, eh?”

“Pretty sure it was an American that sniped it on Price,” Auston smirks, fist bumping van Riemsdyk who’s in the stall next to his, “the Canadians were just along for the ride.”

Mo gasps in pretend outrage, throwing a roll of tape at his head and the other Canadians start protesting, but most of Auston’s attention is on Mitch who laughs and punches his shoulder. “Rude, Matts, we’re in-laws now, you should be nicer to me.”

“In-laws?” Kadri asks, his eyebrows arched in disbelief.

“Our best friends are banging,” Mitch tells him while Auston’s still trying to decide how to answer; Jack’s never been in the closet and they were all over each other all tournament, so probably there’s no keeping it a secret, but Auston’s first instinct is always to keep that kind of thing private.

Babcock comes in then and everyone finishes getting ready, chirping forgotten in the rush to get back on the ice.

*

There’s a moment, right before Mitch passes the puck to him, where the air seems to freeze, time suspended for a moment, and Auston knows what’s going to happen: he can taste it in the air. 

Auston can _see_ what happens next, knows it the way he knows the sun and how it feels on his skin. He can’t escape it, not even if he wanted to, and maybe the most confusing thing about this is that he’s been half-waiting for this since his dad sent him the _dream_ all those months ago in Switzerland.

Auston takes a deep breath and the puck’s off Mitch’s stick to Auston’s and he’s shooting it; it misses the net and shatters the glass behind it and there’s a deep ringing sound that he can feel in his bones and Auston knows his life’s just changed from the course he had carefully plotted out for himself. 

The moment seems to last forever, hanging in the air with the weight of lifetimes behind it.

Auston exhales and Mitch is grinning at him like it’s the best thing he’s ever seen.

*

After practice Auston makes vague plans to hang out with the guys later on that night, but skips lunch and goes back to his apartment instead; his parents are out with his sisters when he gets there and Auston’s grateful for the resulting quiet. 

He takes his shoes off at the door, grabs some gatorade out of the fridge then goes down the hall to his room and sighs in relief when he goes inside and it’s nice and warm, untouched by the AC that’s currently blasting through the rest of the apartment.

He’s finally warm enough to take off his hoodie and strip out of his jeans before he settles on his bed and absently scrolls through his notifications while he drains the bottle of gatorade; everyone’s giving Jack shit in their group chat for an interview he gave earlier. Auston hasn’t seen it yet, but judging by the emojis and increasingly ridiculous youtube videos John’s sending, it probably has something to do with Davo.

_gross, keep it in your pants for 5 secs loser_ , Auston sends just to be an asshole and puts his phone on the bed next to him before he tosses the empty bottle towards the small trash can in the corner.

There’s nothing left to distract him from what happened this afternoon, so Auston lies back against his pillows and lets his mind wander to Mitch and practice.

Auston replays the moment in his head: the coldness of the ice, the chill in the air, the way time had hung suspended for what seemed like forever and no time at all; Mitch grinning at him like Auston had done something magical by breaking the glass, instead of being at the mercy of the gods just like everyone else.

What happened in and of itself wasn’t what was bothering him, not really. He might not like it, but _dreams_ went hand-in-hand with who he was. They all had to deal with them, but Auston probably understands them better than anyone else.

No, the real problem is that Auston’s not sure what to do about Mitch now. He doesn’t love him, they don’t know each other and the only thing they really have in common besides hockey is Jack and Davo.

Auston’s never been one to fall in love quickly or easily and maybe _that’s_ the biggest problem: he doesn’t love Mitch but he has the feeling he’s going to in the future, or that he’s _meant_ to and for all that he’s not happy about that choice being taken away from him, there’s no one else that has even caught his attention in the months since he first had the _dream_.

He’s not sure what to do and he hates the not-knowing more than being told who he’s going to fall in love with like he’s a petulant child who can't make their own decisions. 

Auston knows he could ask his cousins, call them up or message their group chat; even if they didn’t have an answer for him, they’d help him find one and help him stop worrying in the meantime. 

But none of them have ever been in this situation before or even come close to it; Dylan and Z have been together for as long as Auston’s known them, happy and in love and content with each other in a way Auston’s never seen in anyone else’s relationship, not even his parents.

Jack’s been dumb over Davo from the first time he saw him and that never changed, not even when Jack wished it would, and eventually Jack realized Davo felt the same and he’s happier than Auston’s seen in a long time, but Jack was never told he _had_ to love Davo. John loves everyone he meets, openly and without restraint, and Noah just wants to play hockey and drink and have a good time, relationships and sex didn’t always enter into the equation for him. Charlie’s never seems to want anything beyond random hook-ups. 

Before now Auston would have said he was more like Charlie than anyone else; this whole thing with Mitch is new territory for him and Auston doesn’t like the uncertainty that comes with it.

*

They spend an absurd amount of time together, driving to and from practices, stopping for lunch most days before they go back to Auston’s to play video games or hang out; his family gets used to Mitch being around constantly fairly quickly, and his mom always makes sure there's enough food for Mitch.

Auston hasn’t told them about the _dream_ but they act like Mitch is already part of the family and he’s not sure how he feels about that, because there’s no guarantee that Mitch wants the same things Auston does.

Auston can feel himself falling a little more every time he talks to Mitch, every time Mitch laughs at something dumb; every time he even _sees_ Mitch it feels like. 

Auston isn't sure if he should be happy that his dad knows him this well or pissed off that it's working.

*

“I saw a picture of you and Marner,” is what John greets him with when Auston answers his phone.

It’s the middle of August and it’s gorgeous out, hot and dry, and Auston’s sitting in the sun on the small balcony outside his bedroom; he closes his eyes and he can almost pretend he’s back in Arizona for a few minutes.

“Hi to you, too, John,” Auston says dryly and smiles when John sighs loudly like Auston’s the one being rude. “I’m fine, thanks for asking.”

“Obviously you're fine," John tells him and Auston can almost _hear_ him roll his eyes. "If you weren't I'd be headed for Toronto as soon as I had clothes on again."

"You didn't call me in the middle of fucking someone again, did you?" Auston asks in exasperation. "You know it freaks people out."

"First of all, fuck you, and second, don't change the subject," John says, sounding more like he's on a red carpet somewhere instead of naked and waiting for round two to start up. "I saw a picture of you two on Marner's instagram."

"I didn't know you followed him," Auston says, as sullenly as he can manage, which really isn't much: it's hard to get pissy with John, especially when Auston knows he's just trying to look out for him.

"Please, I started following him back in June," John scoffs, his tone conveying how ridiculous he thinks Auston's being right now. 

Auston rolls his eyes, but John speaks again before he can say anything. 

"He's into you," John tells him, his voice as serious as it ever is. "I can see it, clear as day."

Auston sighs and closes his eyes again, tries to sound as steady as possible. "Yeah, maybe, but is it even his choice? My dad did this and I don't know that Mitch would have even cared about me without it."

"Aus, none of us have a choice," John tells him gently, his voice calm and loving. "Everyone is subject to the whim of the gods, even us. Just because most people don't realize it, doesn't mean it’s not true.

"You think my mom didn't pick out Z for Dylan? That She had nothing to do with putting Davo in Jack's life? Love is one of the things that makes life good, that makes it bearable. Why would you throw it away if you didn't have to?"

"It's not that simple," Auston manages to say past the lump in his throat; he desperately wants to believe what John's telling but he doesn't think he can.

"It is," John disagrees with an affectionate laugh, "but you've always been the stubborn one."

He changes the subject after that and the rest of their conversation is about hockey and the upcoming season, but Auston thinks about what John said for a long time that night before he finally falls asleep.

*

They play Buffalo in September and Jack’s not playing in the game, but he shows up at the rink and hangs around until it’s over; Auston sees him talking to people easily, signing autographs for kids when they come up to him, smiling and taking pictures. The weight of the Sabres lays on his shoulders, the responsibility as natural to Jack as breathing underwater, and even when he’s frustrated with the team, Auston knows Jack wouldn’t change anything.

He’s waiting in the hallway when Auston comes out of the visitor’s locker room, smirking down at his phone before he looks up and the smirk grows until he’s grinning. “Hey, asshole,” Jack says, pulling Auston in for a long hug.

Auston lets himself hang on for a few seconds, needing the contact with his cousin.

“You alright?” Jack asks when Auston lets go; he looks Auston over critically, like he can see whatever’s bothering him all over his face. “Do I need to kick Marner’s ass?”

Auston knows he’s serious about it, too, and that given half a reason, he’ll walk into the locker room and start hitting Mitch and ask why after the fact. “No, he didn’t do anything. It’s just, you know,” Auston shrugs and hopes Jack gets it without him having to say it.

“Yeah, I saw you cracked some windows,” Jack tells him, leans back against the wall. “And I talked to John.”

Auston doesn’t know what to say, so he just shrugs again; he knows John wants the best for him, the same way he does for all of them, but he doesn’t think this is that easy to figure out.

“You’re always so hard on yourself,” Jack says quietly, his voice filled with worry; Auston has to bite his lip to stop himself from saying or doing anything he shouldn’t. Now isn’t the time, not when they’re in a hallway surrounded by humans. “You deserve to be happy, Auston. You deserve to have someone love you if that’s what you want.”

“Since you hooked up with McDavid, you think everyone wants that,” Auston tells him coldly, lashing out with an anger that he knew had nothing to do with his cousin, but Jack could deal with his temper, his mean streak. “I don’t need anyone, now or ever.”

Out of all of them, they were most alike in temperament and attitude, the way they dealt with things. It was probably for the best that Jack was the first one he saw in person since this started.

Jack stands straight and temper lights up his eyes, curls his lips so his teeth are bared, “You want a fight then, asshole? Lets go, I can still kick your ass when I need to.”

For a few long seconds Auston lets himself imagine it, picture how satisfying it would feel to land some hits, to punch out the anger and frustration bubbling under his skin; he can feel it at the tip of his tongue: words meant to hurt, to make Jack _suffer_ , the urge to speak what will become truth if he just lets it. If he does as he’s meant to, uses what his father gave him.

But the fight leaves Auston as fast as it came and all he wants is to sit in the sun somewhere with his cousin and decompress. “I’m sorry, I don’t -I just don’t know,” he says, his voice tired. 

His skin is tight with suppressed energy, with the need to speak. Auston ignores it: he knows it will go away eventually. It always does.

“It’s alright,” Jack tells him and relaxes back against the wall; he means it, too, Auston knows, he was always quick to forgive the people he cared about. “I suppose I can’t expect too much from you,” he adds with a grin.

“Being an asshole runs in the family apparently,” Auston tells him, already feeling better just from being here.

Jack rolls his eyes but he looks relieved, like being chirped tells him all he needs to know about how Auston's doing right now. 

“Toronto isn't that far,” Jack reminds him easily, eyes flicking over Auston's shoulder when they hear the locker room door swing open behind him and guys spill out into the hallway; he looks as serious as Auston's only seen a handful of times before and it's easy for Auston to see his uncle in Jack's bearing. “I can be there in like two hours if you need me. It wouldn’t take Dylan much longer, either.”

Before Auston can say anything, Mitch comes over and throws himself at Jack for a hug. “Eichs, dude, what’s up? I haven’t seen you in forever.”

“Not my fault you weren’t around when I was in Toronto,” Jack tells him, grinning when Mitch rolls his eyes and shoves him. 

“Please, like you ever left Davo’s apartment,” Mitch scoffs and slings an arm around Auston’s shoulders. “Where we going?” he asks and smiles innocently when Jack glares at him halfheartedly.

Auston exchanges looks with Jack, nods slightly when Jack raises his eyebrows in question.

“Fine, come on then,” Jack says and pushes off from the wall before he turns down the hallway to head towards the parking garage. “We’re just hanging out at my place,” he adds without turning around to see if they're following him.

"Why does he have to walk so fast," Mitch complains loudly; Auston assumes he’s just being a brat since he barely has to adjust his strides to keep up with Jack as they follow him out of the building.

“Sorry, Marns, I forgot you’re too short to walk at a normal pace,” Jack tells him mockingly and expertly dodges the elbow Mitch aims at him with a snort of laughter. 

He unlocks the doors to his car and leaves Auston and Mitch to fight over who gets shotgun while he puts on the radio and checks his phone; Auston raises an eyebrow when Mitch holds out a fist for rock, paper, scissors and just hip checks him out of the way and slides into the front passenger seat. “Sorry, Canadians ride in the back around here,” Auston grins at Mitch’s offended look and fist bumps Jack while Mitch settles in the backseat with a lot of cursing and promises of revenge. 

“Be glad I don’t put you in the trunk,” Jack adds dryly and turns up the radio to drown out the fresh complaints from Mitch when he pulls out of the parking spot faster than Mitch is expecting.

The drive to Jack’s place is mostly quiet, with Mitch singing along to songs he knows on the radio and cheerfully kicking the back of Auston’s seat intermittently. Traffic isn't too bad this time of the year so they get there pretty quickly and it seems like almost no time at all before Jack’s pulling off of the highway to go down a quieter road and then turning off of it to drive down another side road before he drives up to where the entrance to a gated community and a couple guards on duty. 

Jack leans out the window to punch in some numbers on a small keypad and waves to the guards when he drives through the now open gate. 

Auston sees the glint of water between the nearby houses and trees and smiles to himself, leave it to Jack to find some kind of water to live on while he was in Buffalo for the season.

“Jesus, Eichs, it’s like you’re actually an adult and shit,” Mitch says in disbelief as Jack carefully maneuvers his car around the kids that are playing in the streets and running out of the nearby front yards. “I thought you had an apartment like the rest of us.”

Jack grins but doesn’t say anything, just drives further on and then turns off the street and goes down a long driveway. Auston’s not surprised to see how big the house is: Jack has a nurturing streak a mile wide that’s easy to spot if you knew what to look for and any place he bought would have to be big enough to fit everyone he cared about in it.

“Try not to break anything,” Jack tells them and gets out of the car without waiting for them to say anything.

“Did you know he had an actual house?” Mitch hisses and pinches Auston’s side when he ignores him; Auston shoves him and they end up in a mini-slap fight all the way up onto Jack’s porch and Mitch trips over the doorway and almost ends up face first on the floor.

The inside that they can see immediately is obviously decorated by a professional, but there’s bits and pieces of Jack strewn around: a pile of sneakers and dress shoes to the side of the entrance, shirts and pants draped over the back of the couch and a pile of clean clothes in a laundry basket by the stairs; seashells and bottles of sand up on shelves and even on the coffee table in the middle of the room. There’s a huge aquarium set up alongside the far wall, full of plants, some fish and, if Auston knew his cousin at all, actual water from either a lake or the ocean. 

It’s pleasantly warm to Auston, which means the air isn’t on and probably hasn’t been for a day or two at least; Auston’s able to shrug off his jacket and be comfortable walking around in a t-shirt for once.

“Big, fancy house and you don’t even have AC that works,” Mitch complains even as he kicks his shoes off and throws his hoody onto the pile of stuff on Jack’s couch; he wanders out of the room and towards the back of the house where Auston assumes there’s a backyard and access to the lake.

“Thanks,” Auston tells Jack quietly, letting the noise Mitch is making in the other room fade into the background. A door opens and then slams and Mitch’s yelling gets louder; Auston smiles at the noise and shrugs when Jack looks at him knowingly.

“It’s not a big deal,” Jack says dismissively and heads off in the opposite direction of Mitch. “Go on and make sure your boy isn’t destroying my deck,” he adds with a laugh; he sounds echoey from being on the stairs. “It’s warm enough out you should be ok like that. We’ll grill some steaks after I get changed.”

Auston stops in the kitchen to grab a beer out of the fridge and then goes out onto the deck that’s directly off the kitchen; it’s huge, a grill tucked alongside the railing, and lots of chairs sporadically spread out. Auston drops into one that’s facing the backyard where he can see Mitch throwing sticks for someone’s dog to go fetch out of the water, laughing loudly when the dog knocks him over and starts licking Mitch’s face.

“Jesus, Marns, I can’t let you go anywhere,” Jack bitches when he appears in the doorway, his own beer in his hand. “I hope Lucky bites your face off, you jackass.” 

Lucky barks delightedly and beelines for Jack who’s on the steps and catches the dog when it jumps at him. Jack tells Mitch to shut it when Mitch complains that Jack stole his friend, while the dog barks in happy outbursts and there’s a resigned shout of “Lucky, you’re suppose to stay in the yard,” in the background.

Auston leans back in the chair and grins up at the sun, happy and bright. 

*

The first game of the season is in Ottawa and it’s unseasonably warm for October in Canada, so Auston’s in a good mood, soaking up as much sun as he can before Mitch picks him up for the ride to the airport.

It’s a short flight, not even an hour, and it’s still warm out when they land and head for the hotel; it’s easy to settle in at the hotel, strip down to his boxers for his pre-game nap. Mitch bitches about how hot it is with the AC turned off for the year already, but Auston is comfortable under the blankets and he falls asleep while Mitch is still complaining.

*

He can barely keep still during the anthems, excitement buzzing under his skin and it almost feels like he’s in the sun in the middle of August back home, and by the time the puck drops, Auston’s ready to play the best hockey of his life. 

The game is mostly a blur, each shift running into the next, the only thing that stands out is his first goal: it stands out with a sharp kind of clarity and Auston thinks he’ll remember that moment forever.

He thinks he’ll never be able to top that moment for the rest of his life. 

Then he gets a second goal and a third, and Auston thinks his heart is going to burst from his chest.

When the fourth goal goes in Auston can barely process it; his team presses in close along the glass, yelling as loud as the sold-out crowd. Auston looks up into the stands, time slows to a crawl, everything around him at half-speed, and his dad smiles at him from a couple of rows away. Auston smiles back, genuinely happy to see him. He disappears the next second, and everything goes back to normal in a rush of movement, but it still makes Auston grin through the rest of the game.

*

The thing about Jack that people don’t realize is he’s sappy as shit about the people he loves, the ones who matter to him.

So it’s no surprise that a pic of him and Davo show up in their group chat during the Sabres bye week: it’s sunset on a beach, Jack kissing the back of Davo’s hand that he’s holding, the half of Davo’s face that they can see looks so fucking _indulgent_ and affectionate and it makes Auston’s heart clench because Jack deserves that, someone who will love as unreservedly as he does.

And if Auston saves it as Jack’s new contact picture, well. 

He’s kind of a sap, too.

*

Auston ends up playing against Charlie in his first game of the season; the game’s the second of a back-to-back in Boston and they flew in that morning, so they don’t get to hang out before the game, but they make plans to hang out afterwards.

During warm-ups, Auston notices Charlie talking to Mitch, sees Mitch’s expression, the amusement slowly turning into unease and maybe a little bit of actual fear, the way he swallows and nods quickly at whatever Charlie’s saying to him. He’s too far away to hear the words, but it doesn’t matter, not really. It wouldn't be the words alone scaring Mitch, but how Charlie’s eyes seemed to get darker, almost black, the minute changes in his voice and the cadence of his words, how the air around him got colder, _heavier_.

They were all shaped by their parentage in some way, but it's Charlie that changes the most when he calls on it.

Charlie glances at him as he skates over to them, smiling slightly before he focuses back on Mitch and their conversation. “I don’t think we’ll have a problem then,” Charlie tells Mitch, tapping his stick against Mitch’s leg gently; it looks innocent enough, but Auston understands the implicit threat behind the words and action, and judging by how pale he was, Mitch did too.

“Being a brat again?” Auston asks easily, pretending not to see the way Mitch immediately shifts closer to him.

“Me?” Charlie says, all wide eyes and faux innocence; he grins when Auston gives him an unimpressed look and adds, “We on for later?”

“I’m gonna go catch up with Marty,” Mitch interrupts, his smile still uneasy; he swallows nervously when Charlie smiles at him, pleasant and bland, but manages to add, “Cool meeting you, dude, see you around,” before he skates off faster than he usually would for warm-ups. 

“Do I want to know what you said to him?” Auston asks, raising his eyebrows; it’s mostly for form because he knows it doesn’t matter, not really, whatever words Charlie used, the message would be the same one Auston told Davo: hurt my cousin and I’ll hurt you even worse. It didn't matter that they weren't together yet, not for this.

Charlie shrugs, but he’s not really paying attention, looking over Auston’s shoulder, his eyes hazy; Auston doesn’t say anything, just waits for Charlie to focus back on him. 

It doesn’t take long, Charlie shakes off whatever -or whoever- he was seeing with the ease of long practice; they spend the rest of warm-ups chirping each other and Charlie’s grinning when he goes back to the Bruins locker room.

“I don’t think McAvoy likes me,” Mitch tells him later on while they’re waiting to go out on the ice for the game; he’s frowning, and Auston’s not sure if it’s because they’re playing the Bruins in Boston or if he just doesn’t like the idea of someone disliking him. Probably both, knowing Mitch.

“Charlie’s not a people person,” Auston says after a few seconds, “he’ll warm up to you after a while. I think he actually smiled at Davo over the summer,” he adds with a smirk.

Mitch rolls his eyes and laughs, but before he can say anything else, Marty crashes into him for their usual pre-game shoulder bump and handshake.

*

Auston falls asleep on the plane ride home and when he wakes up he’s in the middle of the desert, sitting on a sun-bleached rock. He looks around easily, at home with the sun beating down on him and making him feel warm for the first time in what feels like months.

“You are angry with me,” a deep voice says next to Auston’s ear and it’s not a shock that when he turns his head, Apollo is sitting next to him. “Because of the _dream_ I sent you.”

It’s impossible to lie to a god and Auston wouldn’t even if he could. “How will I ever know if Mitch cares about me because he does or because You made him?”

Apollo doesn't say anything for a minute and when Auston glances at Him, He's staring into the distance thoughtfully. 

"It is true that Aphrodite helped me find the human you would be happy with," He finally says; his voice feels like it's vibrating Auston's eardrums and it takes a couple seconds for the words to make sense but even as dread fills Auston, his dad goes on, "as She has with your cousins and will again in the future. I cannot apologize for that as it is outside My purview, nor would I even if it was: you are My son and I will do what I can to help you, even if it is not as much as I would like."

Auston opens his mouth to object, to argue, but his dad holds up His hand and Auston falls silent again instantly.

"And even so, I cannot make the human fall in love you, I can only arrange for you to meet him. What happens after that is up to you and is determined by your will and that of the human."

"But She could," Auston says bitterly, careful to not say his aunt's name, wary that it could attract Her attention in this half-real, asleep place. And even pissed off Auston knows better than to put himself in Her crosshairs.

"She could," Apollo agrees patiently, far more so than He would ever be with anyone else Auston knows. "I will tell you a secret because you are My son and I see that this pains you greatly, and the secret is this: rarely does Aphrodite force people to care for each other, She feels that it undermines Her power and wisdom to have to intervene that way.

"Know that whatever you feel for this human and he for you is all of both your own making."

Auston jolts awake and gasps for air, suddenly freezing after the intense warmth from his dream, his dad's last words ringing in his ears.

He looks around while he tries to calm down, rubs his hands together to help warm them up; his eye catches on the back of Mitch's head a few rows ahead of him and for the first time in a while Auston lets himself want.

If his dad was right, maybe they could be something.

*

They kiss for the first time in the parking garage of Auston's building and it almost feels like a homecoming to Auston, like part of him was just waiting for this moment to start breathing. It’s bullshit and he knows it: he’s his own person, with or without Mitch, even if it _is_ the best first kiss Auston’s ever had.

When Auston finally pulls away Mitch stares up at him, eyes wide and unblinking like he's trying to process everything, but he looks happy, too, mouth turned up at the corners; after a couple more seconds, he leans up on his toes and presses another kiss to Auston's lips.

"Yeah?" Mitch asks, a happy grin lighting up his face. He looks so happy and confident like he thinks whatever they're meant to be is something that's easy to define and live.

And maybe it is. Maybe Auston can let it be that way, too.

"Yeah," Auston agrees with a small smile of his own and leans down to kiss Mitch again.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> February in Edmonton is miserable.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy the second part of Auston and Mitch!
> 
> See end notes for a spoilery type warning.

February in Edmonton is miserable, freezing and buried under six inches of ice and snow, and Toronto wasn’t much better off when they flew out on this roadie; Auston knows he can survive the cold weather: he was in Michigan for three years and then Switzerland, it’s not his first time in a place that dropped below zero in the winter, but that doesn’t mean he’s happy about it.

Winter always makes Auston more prone to snapping at people, easily annoyed because there was barely enough sunlight every day and it was always so fucking cold, he feels like he never really settles until spring comes and the temperature goes up.

He turns up the heat in the hotel room as high as it goes and drags all the blankets in the room onto one bed and crawls under them for his pre-game nap; Mitch laughs at him for almost ten minutes when he comes out of the bathroom and sees him buried. He climbs under the blankets and curls up with Auston after he’s done, so Auston can’t be too mad about it.

They make out for a little bit when they wake up, slow and lazy, nothing too serious because they don’t have enough time, but it’s still so good, it almost makes up for the shitty weather outside. Almost.

*

The game starts off rough and doesn’t get much better as it goes on, there’s a lot of penalties and enough questionable hits on both sides that there’s a parade to and from the box for most of the first two periods.

They start the third on a powerplay when Kassian crunches Mitch against the boards by the Leafs bench and Auston sees red when Mitch falls to the ice.

There’s a scuffle after the hit and somehow Auston’s helmet ends up on the ice next to where Mitch is still hunched over on his knees, face against the ice and his hands over the back of his neck; his face twists in a grimace of pain and rage fills Auston, makes him turn his sights on Kassian, who backs up in confusion when Auston focuses on him.

The urge to _speak_ fills Auston, rides in on the hot wave of his anger: to make the words he wants to say the truth; his skin feels burning hot, tight and stretched over his skeleton, like he’s too big for his skin to hold him together. “You coward,” Auston growls, power undercutting his voice, wrapping around the words he spits out and making them real. Making them _true_. 

Kassian eyes widen in fear at whatever he sees on Auston’s face before he steels himself and shakes off his gloves, puts his fists up and smirks with false bravado. “You wanna fight, faggot? Lets go.”

“This is going to hurt more than anything you’ve ever felt,” Auston tells him honestly. _Truthfully_. Power builds until Auston knows his skin is almost glowing with it. If they were outside, he would be lit up as bright as the sun, bright enough that humans wouldn’t be able to look at him without pain. But he doesn’t need to be in the sunlight to prophesize, it just makes it into a spectacle. “And I can’t wait.” 

Auston takes a deep breath, tastes the words on the tip of his tongue, the _truth_ he will speak to Kassian and shape into prophecy; it’s silent and alone in this last moment before Auston changes fate, the last chance he has to change his mind. There’s only Auston and this person he wants to hurt, destroy, because of what they did to someone Auston loves. 

There’s a sudden burst of pain that distracts Auston, breaks his focus, and it takes another few seconds for him to process the fact that Davo punched him in the side of the head as hard as he could; he meets Davo’s eyes, sees the relief there and realizes Jack must have told him about all of them.

Maybe later Auston will be angry about that, but right now all he feels is bone-deep gratitude.

*

“He didn’t tell me any specifics about,” Davo makes a vague hand gesture that Auston assumes means ‘all the power and gods bullshit’; he hesitates a second, looks around to see if anyone was within hearing distance before he goes on, “Jack just said that if you ever lost your temper I would know and that I should stop you before you accidentally hurt someone.”

They’re in a corridor of Rexall Place, off the main hallway outside the locker rooms where the teams play sewer ball before games; they’re alone but Auston feels people watching them, knows there are reporters and staff milling around not that far away. Davo’s using his media face, stiff and formal, a strong contrast to the way he looks when he knows there aren’t any unfriendly cameras on him.

“Jack didn’t say ‘accidentally’,” Auston tells him, half-smiling; his cousin says a lot of things, but he wouldn’t sugarcoat the truth, not even to spare Auston’s feelings. 

Davo grins brightly, a brief glimpse of the real person under the media polish. “No, but I’m a lot nicer than Jack is.”

“Thank you,” Auston tells him sincerely; no matter how righteous it felt in the moment, Auston knows there’s no excuse for getting that close to losing control of himself. He likes to think he’s better than that but it’s good to get a reminder before he starts thinking he’s infallible. “I don’t usually lose my temper like that.”

“I get it,” Davo shrugs, as casual as if they were discussing the weather, “if my boyfriend got hurt in front of me I’d lose my shit, too, I just can’t do the same kind of damage you can.” 

It makes Auston smile to hear Mitch described as his ‘boyfriend’ so casually like people always thought this is where they would end up and it’s not something close to miraculous that they made it this far.

"How is he?" Davo asks after a few seconds of companionable silence.

"He's alright," Auston lets out a breath and shrugs, tries to push away the feeling like the hit had just happened a few seconds ago. "The trainers think he just got his bell rung, he should be able to play in a few days."

Davo nods, looks over to where the Oilers locker room door is opening and players spill out, chirping each other good-naturedly; Auston sees Kassian, folded in on himself and feels a stab of disappointment that he didn't get to even punch him in the face. 

"I have to head out," Davos says then and the look on his face makes Auston glad that he wasn't the one about to feel the brunt of Davo's anger, human or not. "Tell Marns I'll facetime him later, eh? And thanks, for trusting me enough to, well. I know Jack wouldn't have told me if you guys didn't think he should. So, thanks."

Auston stares at the space where Davo was for a few minutes after he leaves and thinks about everything until Mitch texts him that he's ready to go back to the hotel.

*

_i want to tell mitch_ is all he puts in the message to the group chat and knows everyone will understand.

Then he waits for his cousins to help him figure out how to do this without anyone getting hurt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Zach Kassian is the bad guy in this chapter and uses the f slur during a fight with Auston during a game, it's only once but it is there, so proceed with caution.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the last bit of Auston's fic, hope you guys enjoy it!

It's the beginning of August and it's hot in Charlotte, a record heatwave that makes everyone but Auston pissy.

The sun feels good on his skin, the heat a reminder that no matter what happens with Mitch some things won't change.

Having his cousins close by helps, too, even if Jack's the only one who comes with him to pick up Mitch from the hotel before they go out on Noah's boat; they bring Davo, who looks none the worse after Noah's celebration the night before, and Auston hopes his presence will make Mitch more comfortable.

Jack insists on stopping for hash browns and it sparks off a debate between them and Davo about DD and Tim Horton's, and by the time they pull up to the hotel where Mitch is at, the whole thing devolves into name-calling and punching and Auston gets out of the car before Jack and Connor start making out in the front seat.

It's a small building, more Airbnb than a true hotel, but the flowers are happy and cheerful, growing together in clumps in the yard with no real organization to it, and everything's clean, so it's not too bad.

Auston finds Mitch's room easily and when Mitch opens the door he looks mostly asleep still with his hair a mess. He blinks for a few seconds, processing what's in front of him and Auston can see on his face when it sinks in.

"Oh, shit, it's eight already?" Mitch asks, a slightly panicked note creeping into his sleep rough voice; he runs a hand through his hair and looks around blankly like he can figure out what to do next that way.

Auston waves the large iced coffee he's holding in front of Mitch's face and smiles when Mitch's eyes light up in appreciation.

"Oh god, you're the best, babe," Mitch tells him sincerely and presses a quick kiss to Auston's mouth before he darts back in his room. "Give me five minutes," he adds loudly as the door slowly swings shut between them.

Auston digs his phone out but doesn't even finish going through the group chat messages before Mitch is coming back out, dressed and with half his coffee gone already. 

"The only way this could be better is if you had Timmy's down here," Mitch tells him as they head back towards the car; he laces his fingers through Auston's with a casualness that makes Auston's heart clench but Mitch's words make him roll his eyes and Mitch raises his eyebrows with a slight smile when he catches it.

"We already got into an argument about DD's superiority over Horton's," Auston explains with a laugh when Mitch squints at him in disbelief. "They looked five seconds away from making out when I left the car. Hopefully, they haven't decided to start fucking in the front seat while I was gone."

"No way, Davo doesn't go in for that," Mitch laughs and shakes his head before he starts drinking his coffee again; Auston shrugs, not really interested in debating the point considering he definitely saw Jack riding Connor on the couch during last night's celebration.

But explaining Noah or what his parties were like was something else that had to wait until later.

Jack and Davo are both still dressed when they get there, even if Jack looks happier than normal given how early it is; they get in the back seat and Mitch leans forward so he can talk to them before they head over to the small harbor where Noah's boat is.

Jack just grunts at Mitch’s enthusiastic greeting but Mitch seems to understand that it's not personal and spends the drive talking to Davo and tapping his fingers on Auston's knee.

Without really thinking about it, Auston covers Mitch's fingers with his own and is rewarded with a wide smile and Mitch turning his hand over to tangle their fingers together.

"Alright, we're here," Jack tells them as he puts the car back into drive after stopping to punch in the code Noah had given him and pulling into a parking spot close to the entrance.

He opens the driver side door and drops the car keys and his cell into the open backpack on the seat between him and Davo; Davo drops his own phone inside and Auston's and Mitch's phones follow after Auston nudges Mitch to get him to hand it over.

Jack zips up the bag and shoulders it as he gets out of the car. "Come on, lovebirds," Jack says almost absently, like he thinks he should be chirping them but is too distracted to do a good job of it; Auston knows most of his attention is already on the water that even Auston can hear lapping against the docks and shores of the marina.

"Hanny said the boat's not too big," Davo tells them as they walk towards the line of boats tied up on the docks; Jack's already on one of them, leaning over the railing and looking out over the inlet with a grin. "The four of us should be able to handle it," he adds with an indulgent smile when Jack yells at them to hurry up.

"I didn't realize Hanny liked boating that much," Mitch comments to him while they're following Davo onto the boat; the water's pushing against the dock and the boat itself, making choppy waves that has Mitch looking uneasy.

"He mostly has it for when Jack's here," Auston says truthfully and smiles when Mitch turns to look at him with his eyebrows raised in disbelief. "Jack likes the water and this is easier than having to rent a boat every time he wants to go out."

Mitch still looks skeptical but he doesn't say anything else as they get the boat ready and head out; Davo drives, adjusting their direction when Jack says something, but otherwise it's quiet, just the noise from the ocean surrounding them, and it's nice being out here with Mitch warm and relaxed against his side.

Auston isn't sure how long it's been when Davo cuts the engine and Jack drops the anchor over the side, but there's no one around them and that's all that matters.

"You ready?" Jack asks him and promptly strips off his shirt when Auston nods; he stops long enough to take off his shoes and press a quick kiss to Davo's mouth, then he's over the side of the boat, barely a ripple in the water to mark where he went.

"Dude, what the fuck," Mitch says incredulously when neither Auston or Davo say anything about Jack's sudden departure. "No, seriously guys, _what the fuck_?"

Auston shares a long look with Davo and then turns to Mitch. "Jack's a good swimmer, he'll be alright."

"Shouldn't he have a lifejacket or something?" Mitch asks and eyes the water warily; it's more lively than it was even a few minutes ago and it was rocking the boat a little bit, just enough that it was making Mitch uneasy. "He could drown if the water gets too rough."

Davo starts laughing and turns it into a cough when Mitch glares at him.

"Jack won't drown," Auston tells him with a surety that comes from knowing Jack -and who his father is- for what feels like a lifetime; Mitch relaxes a little at the confidence in Auston's voice, but he gives the water one last uneasy glance before he focuses back on Auston.

Auston hesitates a little longer, soaking in the feeling of the sun on his skin and Mitch next to him, before he steels himself and says, "Hey, so I wanted to talk to you about my, uh, dad."

"Your dad? We just saw him a few weeks ago," Mitch says, confusion coloring his voice. "Did something happen? Is everything ok?"

"Yeah, he's fine, so is my mom," Auston reassures him and takes a deep breath before rushing on, "but I meant my biological dad. You haven't met him yet."

Mitch stands up straight, focuses on Auston with the kind of sharpness he usually reserves for hockey. "Your biological dad," he repeats slowly, like he's weighing each word. "What do you mean?"

“My parents, my mom and step-dad, I mean, they split up when Bri was still a baby,” Auston tells him, tightens his hands on the railing he’s leaning against; he’s never had to say the words out loud like this before: everyone who mattered already knew and there was no one else who he cared about enough about that had to be told who he was, _what_ he was.

Until now, until Mitch. 

He sees the shadow of a fish swimming rapidly past the boat, followed by a few more and it makes Auston smile slightly, the reminder that Jack’s close by if he needs him and that the rest of cousins aren’t too far, either; he glances over at Connor, who meets his gaze and smiles encouragingly, then takes a deep breath and starts talking again.

"After they separated, my mom took Bri and went to go visit family in Mexico for a few months," he says and takes another deep breath, tries to get rid of the anxiety that's in his system right now. "I guess she went for a walk a couple times a week or something, and while she was out, she, uh," Auston pauses again when something in the water distracts him and out of the corner of his eye he sees Davo coming to attention at the same time a dorsal fin cuts across the top of the water in front of them and then abruptly disappears again.

"She met a guy," Mitch fills in, oblivious to what's going on in the water; Auston turns away from it and focuses back on their conversation. 

Jack can handle himself and nothing in the water would ever hurt him.

"She met a guy," Auston agrees with a smile; he rest his hip against the railing and tries to project confidence about what he was saying. "They got along well enough to 'hang out' a few times," he grins and raises his eyebrow when Mitch snickers, "but they were mostly just friends, she told the guy from the beginning she was still in love with my step-dad.

"When they got back together again, my mom was already pregnant with me," Auston tells Mitch and decides to skip ahead a few years when a wave rocks the boat and Mitch looks around in alarm, suddenly remembering where they are.

"Wait, where's Eichs?" Mitch asks, looking back out at the seemingly empty waves and not seeing Jack anywhere. "There's no piers or anything around here, where did he go?"

"I just saw him," Connor tells him firmly; he's lying through his teeth, but Auston's pretty sure only Dylan would be able to tell for sure. "He came up for air while you and Matts were talking."

Mitch doesn't look convinced but Auston clears his throat to get his attention and starts talking again.

"My step-dad knew that I wasn't his, but he said he didn't care, I was his in every way that mattered," Auston takes a second to silently thank his parents, all three of them, but especially the man who could have just walked away when it became apparent Auston wasn't normal and never would be. 

"My bio dad isn't...normal," Auston holds up a hand when Mitch opens his mouth to ask a question, "wait another minute or two, please? You'll probably have most of your answers at that point.

"When I was around five, it was easy to see that I wasn't exactly normal, either," Auston goes on when Mitch nods. "There was stuff before then, but it wasn't as, ah, convincing as what happened then."

Auston looks up at the sun for a long minute, then takes another deep breath. "We had a family dog, her name was Bella, and one day she chewed on my new stick, and broke it. I don’t remember exactly what I said to her, but I was mad and I yelled at her, and the next morning she got out of the yard and got hit by a car.”

“That sucks, babe,” Mitch says, reaches over and squeezes Auston’s hand comfortingly, “it’s a shitty coincidence, but I don’t understand what it has to do with your parents.”

“It wasn’t a coincidence,” Auston has to force the words out, his throat dry; he feels the insane urge to jump in the water just to avoid the rest of this conversation, to hide for as long as it takes Jack to fish him back out again. “It was my fault because I got angry, yelled at her and told her whatever version of ‘I hope something awful happens to you’ five-year-old me came up with. I didn’t mean it or know I _could_ , but I was responsible for her death.”

“Auston, come on, you can’t really believe that,” Mitch tells him, concern warring with incredulity in his voice. “It’s just not possible.”

Auston laughs, but there’s no humor in it; it sounds hollow even to his own ears. "Remember when I said my dad wasn't normal? Well, this is where he comes in.

"My dad can do things," Auston explains slowly, choosing every word he says with care. "And I inherited some of that stuff from Him. Some of it's simple: I can play a lot of instruments, I'm good at sports. I don't burn in the sun and it doesn't bother my eyes. 

"But that's not it," Auston pauses and looks over Mitch, tries to gauge what he's thinking, but he mostly just looks confused. "I'm not, I'm not human, Mitch. Not entirely."

"Auston, babe, that's not possible," Mitch tells him. "A lot of people don't burn in the sun and that doesn't make them aliens. Or whatever."

Davo laughs softly and shrugs when Auston raises an eyebrow at him. "I told Larks he would go for aliens first, him and Hanny both owe me money."

It makes Auston smile in spite of himself, not least because of the glare Mitch turns on Davo. "Whatever prank you're trying to pull, it's not funny, assholes."

"It's not a prank," Auston says before Davo can even open his mouth; Mitch narrows his eyes but whatever he sees on Auston's face makes him relax fractionally. "I've never had to explain this to anyone before, so I'm probably making a mess of it, but my dad isn't a human. He's not an alien, either," Auston tells him, his lips twisting in a slight smile. "He's a god, Apollo."

Mitch opens and closes his mouth a couple of times but all he manages to say is, "Auston. What?"

There's a lot of splashing in the water now, whatever animals and fish that were nearby all converging where Jack was; the boat still wasn't rocking too badly yet, but Auston knew it was only a matter of time before that started getting stronger, too.

It was always an adventure being near the water with Jack, especially when he was free to be himself. 

Eventually, Mitch was going to notice something was going on with Jack and Auston wants to have this part of the conversation mostly over by then.

"It's a little complicated," Auston explains and he lets himself feel hopeful when Mitch snorts in disbelief. "Do you remember anything about Apollo from school?"

"Um," Mitch says, clearly caught unawares; Auston guesses he can forgive Mitch for not having the same fascination with Greek mythology that he himself had in school. "He was the god of the sun, right?"

" _Is_ god of the sun," Auston corrects casually, amused despite himself at the way Mitch's eyes go wide at his words. "And the god of farming and -well, the only one that matters right now is that He's also the god of prophecy."

"Prophecy," Mitch repeats and Auston can almost see him connecting the dots in his brain. "Come on, babe, you think you told the future and that's why your dog died when you were little?"

"Not exactly," Auston says and tries to slow his heartbeat down, tries to relax a little bit. "It's a little different than what you're thinking. 

"I don't tell the future, I'm not a prophet. If I get angry enough, I can _speak_ prophecy and shape the future with my words. 

"Prophets are told what to say, I don't need anyone else's words: mine, by themselves, are enough to change fate."

Mitch doesn’t say anything for a minute, quiet and still except for the death grip he has on the railing; Auston steals a quick look over the water and he’s not surprised when he sees a few more dorsal fins break the surface before disappearing again. 

Davo looks uneasy like he's afraid his boyfriend is going to get eaten, and Auston can't not reach over and squeeze his shoulder in reassurance; Davo smiles half-heartedly and Auston thinks that's probably as good as he's going to get right now.

"Don't you think I'd know if my boyfriend was going around changing things?” Mitch waves his hand around and then points a finger at Auston almost accusingly. "If you don't think I would _notice_ you doing something," he stops suddenly and his face drains, goes pale under his tan and Auston is almost sure he knows what Mitch is thinking about now.

"The Edmonton game," Mitch says quietly; he glances over at Davo who resolutely ignores him and stares straight ahead, out over the water. "After the hit, Mo said you looked weird when you got into it with Kassian and Davo. It's fuzzy, but you were so sweaty, I remember thinking you were glowing, but that wasn't real, it was just the hit."

Auston curls his lip at the mention of Kassian, the only show of temper he allows himself right now, but his words are mild when he tells Mitch, "It wasn't just the hit."

"But if you did," Mitch hesitates for a few seconds, but finally settles on, "change things, wouldn't people notice? Something that big, I don't."

He trails off and looks lost for a second, like the world's changed for him in some fundamental way and Auston supposes it has.

"It wouldn't," Auston pauses, tries to find the words for something that he's always known instinctively. "It would just be normal for whoever it was about, they wouldn't know anything different. It's not changing their present, so anything that happens after _speaking_ would be the same as whatever was suppose to happen originally."

"Do you always get all glowy?" Mitch asks, curiosity lacing the words; Auston's happy to see his color's back to normal and that he sounds more like himself. "When you, you know."

The words are accompanied with an expansive hand gesture that's just so Mitch, it makes Auston smile. “Yeah, pretty much. If I’m inside when I prophesize, it’s mostly what you saw.”

“If he did it out here, you’d go blind looking at him.”

At the sound of Jack’s voice, Mitch screams at the top of his lungs and jumps almost a foot in the air before turning around to yell at him and then screams again at the pair of sharks swimming lazy circles around where Jack’s treading water. 

"Eichs, you fucking asshole," Mitch yells, his face bright red. "What the fuck?"

"Sorry," Jack says with a wide grin, "I didn't mean to upset your delicate nerves."

"Fuck you," he tells him, reluctantly amused; he looks more relaxed to Auston, like having someone to chirp makes him feel better. "I hope you get eaten, dickbag."

Jack looks thoughtful for a second, pretends to think about the possibility of becoming fish food. "You know, I think my dad might get pissed off if some of his bodyguards ate me."

"Your dad?" Mitch repeats, "what?" 

Jack raises his eyebrows and shares a look with Auston. "We didn't get that far yet."

"Ah, ok," Jack winks at Davo and blows him a kiss before he dives back under the increasingly choppy waves.

Mitch inhales sharply when the sharks disappear immediately after Jack, their fins sinking into the water with a speed that would be nightmare inducing if Auston didn't know that his cousin was safer in the water than anywhere else.

"He'll be ok," Auston assures Davo, who's still staring at the spot where Jack was a minute ago. "He didn't lie when he said nothing in the water would hurt him."

"I know," Connor says with a rueful laugh; his shoulders relax a little bit and he loosens his hold on the railing so he doesn't have it in a death grip before he shakes his head. "I've seen it before, when we were in Cabo, but it feels surreal every time."

"His dad?" Mitch repeats for the second time and to Auston's relief he sounds more curious than anything else.

"Poseidon," Auston answers easily, more comfortable talking about Jack's father than his own. "It's why the water's been getting rougher and why so many fish and the sharks showed up. They're drawn here because of Jack and the water's," he pauses, trying to find the right words and settles on, "reacting to his presence."

Mitch nods almost absently, like nothing else Auston tells him today will shock him.

It's quiet for what feels like hours to Auston, but he doesn't want to interrupt whatever Mitch is thinking about; he hasn't flipped out or broken up with him yet, so Auston figures he can wait as long as it takes for Mitch to process everything.

"I'm not going to pretend this whole thing isn't weird," Mitch finally says with another hand motion that Auston takes to mean all of Jack's stuff as well as his own, "because it seriously is and it's a lot to take in, but I love you, Aus, and nothing's going to change that, ok? I don't care who your parents are, you're _you_ and that's all that matters to me."

"Mitch," is all Auston manages to say before he closes the couple of feet separating them and pulls Mitch in for a quick, rough kiss, and then hugs him tightly, rests his forehead on Mitch's and just breathes in the scent of Mitch's cologne for a few seconds. "I love you, too, babe, more than anything."

Auston eventually loosens his grip on Mitch and steps back, tries to get his emotions back under control while Mitch looks around the boat and then back out at the water.

"So, gods and stuff," Mitch says, his usual cheerfulness reasserting itself the same way it always did. "Wait, does Eichs have gills? Is that why he can stay under water this whole time?"

The rest of Mitch's questions are drowned out by Davo's laughter, loud enough that Jack comes back up to the surface to see what's going on.

"Gills? I should drown you right now, jackass," Jack tells him indignantly after Mitch repeats his question; he's glaring, but Auston catches the small smile Jack directs his way before he goes back to trading chirps with Mitch.

Auston leans against the railing, his leg pressed against Mitch's, content to soak up the sun while everyone else keeps yelling at back and forth.


End file.
